Disneyland 2018

We started our year off right with a quick trip to southern California this last weekend. On Saturday morning we hit the road and went straight to the beach. We chose Huntington Beach, also known as surf city. It is such a fun town with shops, restaurants, and bike rental places all over. The beach itself was fantastic. Smooth sand with shells everywhere. The kids were in heaven. It was a gorgeous 75 degree day and we had a blast playing in the sand and water. For dinner we walked to the end of the pier for a meal at Ruby's. We watched the sun set and then headed for Anaheim.

Once we arrived in Anaheim, we checked into the Tropicana and then hit the pool and hot tub. The kids were loving it. I was pretty happy with the hotel overall. You couldn't beat the location, with it being right across the street from the pedestrian entrance to Disney. The only negative was that you had to pay for parking. Oh well. It was worth it.

Sunday morning we were all up bright and early to hit the park at the 8am opening. Those first few hours were the best! We were able to do all the big rides and sign the kids up for Jedi training. I downloaded the new Max Pass and was able to book all of our fastpasses with my phone. That was such a lifesaver! We were able to get on so many rides as we hopped back and forth between the parks. 

 

Neil and Grace participated in the Jedi Training Academy. It was pretty fun to watch them fight Kylo Ren at the end of the performance. They both had a lot of fun and got buttons for participating.

We also discovered the Animation Academy in California Adventure. I'm not sure how we missed it before, but it was one of the highlights for our trip. You get to sketch a Disney character along with an illustrator guiding you. It takes about 15-20 minutes and it was seriously so fun. We went back and did it 3 times! We sketched baby Groot, Pluto, and Doug the dog in Up.

We hit the parks hard that day. So many rides, and treats and fun. It was close to 90 degrees, but we made the best of it. We stayed until 1145pm that night and we were super exhausted. Thankfully the park didn't open until 10am the next day, so we were able to sleep a bit.

 

Monday morning arrived and we were off. Grace had a blister that needed some first aid, but then we were good to go. Monday was at least 90 degrees and super busy. I would never have guessed that it would be more crowded than Sunday, but it was. We didn't get on as many rides that day overall, but we did go on the new Guardians of the Galaxy ride. (refurbished Tower of Terror) The first time we went the girls had agreed to go, but both were in tears as we were about to get on. They were freaking out and almost opted out at the last minute. They managed to get on, and boy were they glad they did. It became everyone's favorite ride! We rode it many, many more times all together. Even Neil was asking to go again. I feel like I have finally arrived. My kids are starting to enjoy the best rides. It was so nice to spend our time on the thrill rides instead of the small kiddie areas.

Our first time on Guardians....

One of our last times.... you can see that the girls are much more excited.

The parks closed at 9pm that night which felt pretty early. We headed for the hot tub as soon as we were back at the hotel to rest our feet. It felt amazing.

Tuesday was another great day. We were at the park for the 9am opening and managed to get on all the big Disneyland rides before 11am and then we hopped over to California to do all the big stuff there. We enjoyed more Dole whips, churros, corn dogs, macaroons, beignets, smoothies, and other fun treats. Almost all of the money we spent was on food. There's just so much to try, and when it's hot outside you just need ice cream. On this last night we watched the Fantasmic show and then managed to ride Thunder mountain, Space Mountain, and Star Tours all before closing at 9pm.

It was a whirlwind, but so much fun. We headed back to our hotel hot tub for another nice soak. We even ran into people from our softball league in the hot tub. Small world. We slept in the next morning, had a nice breakfast at Mimi's cafe, and then headed to Downtown Disney to do some shopping.

Neil chose to buy a baby Groot. He also bought himself a Star Wars action figure. Grace decided on a Stitch backpack and doll, and Claire wanted earrings with a necklace. I bought myself an ornament.

After shopping, we hit the road for the trip home. We managed to make it out of the LA area without too much traffic and got home at dinner time. It was such a fun little trip. Next time I think we need 4 days in the parks. Also, I think I still like October the best for a visit.